China Daily Global Edition (USA)
Slide and joy
2022 Olympics bobsled course earns high marks
Bobsledders, skeleton racers and lugers can expect the slide of their life at the 2022 Winter Olympics after a pretest for Beijing’s new sliding track produced “perfect” results.
Amid heavy downpours and steamy summer heat, the National Sliding Center’s construction site on Xiaohaituo Mountain in northwestern Beijing’s Yanqing district was bustling with activity earlier this week as workers conducted mockup tests on the track.
Representatives from the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation (IBSF) gave the results a resounding thumbs-up.
“The mockup test is a milestone to carry out the construction correctly. We tested the quality, the concrete and the steel work — the result was perfect. After this we can start building the actual track,” IBSF track committee member Thomas Schwab said at the site on Tuesday.
The test was run on four sample sections of track built from materials that will be used on a mass scale as a standard pre-construction evaluation.
After receiving an evaluation report from the IBSF, the construction of the track and other facilities at the center will begin.
The plan is to finish 35 percent of the work by the end of this year, with the entire project to be completed by the end of 2019, in time for test events.
“With the approval of the governing body, we now have stronger confidence in our design and craft to build a world-class track by 2022,” said Xu Dian, an official with the 2022 organizing committee’s planning, construction and sustainability department.
The sliding center will cover an area of 125,937 square meters with a vertical drop of 127 meters, according to project contractor Shanghai Baoye Group Corp.
It will be 1.9 kilometers long with 16 angled curves and will feature a full circle spanning the mountain’s ridges to resemble the shape of a mythical Chinese dragon.
Racers should reach top speeds of around 140 kmph on the downhill sprint section.
“I think it’s an interesting track,” said Schwab, who won a bronze medal for Germany in luge at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary, Canada.
“We collaborated with the designer to make the curves not so easy to slide but not dangerous.
“There must be a high degree of trickiness but it cannot be dangerous. Right now, we are looking good.”
To make the track more energy efficient, some sun-exposed sections will be covered to reduce the demand for cooling supplies.
“The problem is there is a little sunny side, but we have a very good roof,” said Schwab.
As well as all the sliding events, Yanqing, which is 74 km northwest of Beijing, will also host alpine skiing at the National Alpine Ski Center and will have its own Olympic village and media center.
The 2022 Olympics will make use of 26 competition and non-competition venues in Beijing’s downtown, Yanqing and co-host city Zhangjiakou in Hebei province.
Li Xinggang, chief architect of the entire Yanqing cluster, contends the sliding center is probably the most difficult project of all the new facilities for the Games, given China’s lack of expertise in bobsledding and the environmental challenges posed.
“Design-wise, it’s probably the most challenging one in Winter Olympics history because it must have all the functionalities of a worldclass sporting venue but also with minimal disturbance to nature”, said Li, of China Architecture Design and Research Group.
To do that, engineers must rigorously survey the landscape, create parts that best suit the environment and assemble them on site, said Li, adding that unnecessary facilities will be dismantled for recycling or reuse after the Olympics to restore the original ecology.
As a permanent venue, the sliding center will be utilized as a training base for the Chinese national teams after the Games and it will also bid to host more international competitions.